[unreadable] The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center is an institution of emerging excellence, in part as the result of having successfully competed for two Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) awards through NCRR. UOHSC is also recognized as a PHS Native American Center of Excellence (COE) (D34 MB03011-05). As a result of recent and rapid growth, the use of the mice in biomedical research at the UOHSC has expanded dramatically. This growth stretched the limits of existing facility, resulting in a recent outbreak of murine hepatitis virus (MHV), which swept through the facility setting back many of the ongoing research programs. In response, the UOHSC contracted with an external consultant to develop a plan to upgrade housing facilities and handling procedures. This application is an outgrowth of that planning. UOHSC is planning construction of a second Biomedical Research Center (BRC) building. BRC II will encompass a total of 120,609 gross square feet, including 23,272 gross square feet for a dedicated mouse research facility, the subject of this proposal. This mouse facility will consist of a quarantine area, a specific pathogen free (SPF) area, and a dedicated cage wash and sterilization facility. To enable Oklahoma investigators to conduct research on emerging infectious diseases and biodefense, the mouse facility will also include a dedicated Biosafety level 3 (BSL3) area. Existing vivarium space vacated by relocating mice into the new, expanded facility, will be used to meet the simultaneously increasing need for housing of other animal species utilized by faculty funded by NIH. [unreadable] [unreadable]